Project Manager, IUCN-SA
After training as an attorney, Ridwana’s first involvement with conservation was as a consultant to DEAT to establish its conflict management and dispute resolution systems. In 2002 she was offered a position by the IUCN as project manager on access and benefit-sharing in biodiversity, to assist DEAT to develop a legislative framework to enable communities to derive benefits from providing access to genetic resources.
She also manages a project on Technologies for Conservation and Development in Southern Africa (t4cd). ‘What excites me is knowing we can make a difference to the lives of rural people by enhancing conservation and development initiatives where they live,” she says. ‘It’s about raising awareness, especially about the use of technology for conservation and development, bringing the three streams together, and making people see that you don’t have to have one without the others.
‘We’re looking at using appropriate technologies, like the mobile phone, to improve people’s lives. This project will identify and report on mobile phones and their integration with other information and communication technologies in support of conservation and sustainable development in Southern Africa. It aims to link business and biodiversity by enabling corporations, government bodies and civil society to work together for direct conservation gains.”